In the absence of capability of erection or with severely impaired erection, in order nevertheless to achieve the capability of having intercourse, quite various means and methods have been employed up to now, but all of them have disadvantages. Stiffening the penis surgically, for instance, by implanting a so-called penile prosthesis, is unacceptable to many men because of the constant problems this often entails. Moreover, these usually quite expensive devices frequently fail to become properly incorporated. Methods for erection improvement by means of injections of medications into the corpus cavernosum of the penis or by introducing medications into the urethra just before intercourse are also known. Methods and experiments are also known for constricting venous drainage from the corpora cavernosa, thus damming the flow, by placing a ring around the root of the penis, as in German Utility Model DE 296 03 248 U1, in order thereby to increase the turgor in the corpora cavernosa. U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,401 addresses similar problems, using a tube placed in airtight fashion against the root of the penis and creating a negative pressure in the tube that is intended to increase the volume of the penis. The air produced by creating the negative pressure is pumped into a ring that is seated at the root of the penis and that when inflated is intended to reduce venous return. However, all the above known versions assume good, intact arterial flow to the penis. But this condition no longer exists in men whose prostate has had to be entirely removed (radical prostatectomy) because of cancer. In that case--with few exceptions--the main arteries and nerves of the penis that are indispensable to erection of the corpora cavernosa of the corpus penis have been severed. These corpora cavernosa of the corpus penis, or cavernous bodies of the body of the penis, are then no longer functionally available for purposes of erection. Conversely, the arterial and neural supply to the corpora cavernosa of the glans penis (glans) is usually still intact. Thus a man who has had radical prostate surgery but whose testicles have not been removed, has both the desire for intercourse and a certain capability of erection on the part of his glans. But he lacks the stiffening of the corpora cavernosa of the body of the penis and is thus incapable of performing intercourse. He can be helped only by a stiffening device placed around the body of the penis.
Devices for stiffening the penis from outside are known and are described, in German Patents DE 37 23 746 C2 and DE-OS 875,853, German Utility Model DE 72 43 079 GbM, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,360,390, 5,513,652 and 4,785,802, as more or less tubular sheaths, liners and the like which thus act as braces for the body of the penis. These sheaths are largely rigid and if they are to be correctly applied must be individually selected from a great assortment of different sizes. Once applied, the inside diameter of these bracing devices cannot be changed again to adapt to the volume and turgor of the body of the penis. If the body of the penis is overly compressed when such a device is put in place, there is the risk of circulatory disturbances. The degree of repletion of the corpora cavernosa of the body of the penis and of the glans fluctuate very markedly, especially at the moment of sexual arousal, even in the man who has undergone surgery. If the degree of repletion, the turgor pressure, and thus the diameter of the glans decrease, then the glans can slip into the rigid tubular stiffening device during intercourse and thus prevent intercourse from continuing. It appears very questionable whether this possibility can be prevented by means of a greatly constricted "orifice" as in DE 37 23 746, because of the attendant risk of injury and the danger of paraphimosis.
In German Patent DE-PS 134 368, the body of the penis is stiffened by wrapping a "bandage-like strip of fabric, covered on the inside by an adhesive composition" around it. Admittedly this fabric is meant to be flexible and elastic. But adhesively bonding these lengths of fabric strips to one another and to the penis means that in use, i.e. during intercourse, this elasticity is in fact lost. On the contrary, once again the result is a firm, inelastic tube with the above-described disadvantages, which the invention seeks to overcome. Although the aforementioned adhesive bonding means that the skin of the penis can be glued to the inside face of the wrapping, still given the very loose connective tissue between the skin of the penis and the underlying corpora cavernosa, which make up the actual volume of the body of the penis, the corpora cavernosa can still retract into the wrapping, along with the glans that is joined to them. Such a retraction could be avoided only by means of a very taut wrapping. But in that case, a layer of adhesive would be more a hindrance than a help. It makes the wrapping hard to handle and does not allow any corrections to be made as the wrapping is being wound into place.